Super Chevy Show Gainesville (Web Exclusive)

No rental car for me this trip! I got to drive our Senior VP Doug Evans''57 Hardtop to the show. While slightly nerve-wracking in the fact thatif something happened to the car I'd be deader than road kill, drivingthe '57 from our Tampa office to Gainesville was spectacularly awesome!I even blew past a new C6 Corvette. Not sure what surprised people more,the sight of the car, or the fact it was passing them.

I wasn't sure what was more exciting, a chance to get out of the officefor a few days to attend the Super Chevy show, or the opportunity todrive a restomodded '57 hardtop to the event. If the black '57 looksfamiliar, it was a frequent subject of tech stories in various 2006 and2007 issues of Super Chevy. What made the trip a little nerve rackingwas the fact the car belongs to our Senior VP Doug Evans, so ifsomething happened to the car, I'd be moving to Montana and assuming anew name.

Once on the road, my nerves quickly calmed, and I enjoyed the two hourdrive up to Gainesville from our Tampa office. With a hopped up 350,700R-4 and Classic Auto Air A/C, cruising in the '57 was awesome. I'mnot sure what was better, just driving the car or seeing the looks ofstunned BMW and Mercedes owners as I blasted past them at 75 mph onI-75. At one point on the way up, traffic stopped on the highway becauseof an accident, and three different people came up to the car looking itover and giving me the thumbs up.

3/56

I remember when you couldn't touch one of these in ratty condition forless than $500. Two complete TPI intakes for $150 a piece says a lotabout the aftermarket when it comes to fuel-injection for Chevys. Itused to be a TPI conversion was the only economical way to get FI on aclassic bowtie. The swap meet at the SC Show in Gainesville was loadedwith cool and useful parts just like this.

On the way back after the show ended, I spotted a new black ChallengerR/T cruising sedately ahead of me, and was forced to open up the BarryGrant triple-deuce setup on the 350 and show the Challenger what a realmuscle car looked like. Once I passed, I glanced in the rearview mirrorand saw a turn signal come on and the Challenger change lanes to try andcatch up, but the front grille of the Challenger kept growing smaller.

A late addition to the Super Chevy Show schedule, this year'sGainesville event was packed full of interesting cars and great racingaction. While all the show cars were getting set up and polished for aday in the sun, the dragstrip was firing up with the sounds of nitrocoupes and nasty doorslammers courtesy of the Southern Super StockAssociation. The True Street competitors were going through inspectionsand getting ready for their road test.

EDITOR'S CHOICE TOP 10 SHOW AWARDS

Gary & Debi Deason - Crawfordville, FL - '55 210 Gasser

Jim Hopkins - Beverly Hills, FL - '71 Nova

Michael Lloyd - Callahan, FL - '68 Camaro

Donnie Childers - Tifton, GA - '66 Chevelle

Tom Messer - Gainesville, FL - '67 Camaro

Buddy Burfind - Englewood, FL - '64 Nova

Ralph Hendricks - Jacksonville, FL - '67 Camaro

John Nobles - Callahan, FL - '55 Chevy

Wayne Folin - Willington, FL - '63 Biscayne

Larry Geiger - Callahan, FL - '72 Chevelle

EDITOR'S CHOICE TOP 10 DRAG AWARDS

George Emanuel - High Springs, FL - '55 Bel Air 2-door Sedan

Larry Flynn - Lutz, FL - '57 Be lAir Hardtop

Bob Wold - Oxford, FL - '55 210 2-door Sedan

Scott Helms - Crystal Springs, FL - '66 Impala SS

Kevin Cradduck - Murfreesboro, TN - '69 Camaro

Darren Stutts - Green Cove Springs, FL - '57 150 2-door Sedan

Jimmy Gugel - Ocala, FL - '70 Camaro

Ken & Faye Hamilton - Jacksonville, FL - Small-Block-Powered Dragster

Kelly Hicks - St. Augustine, FL - '02 Camaro Pro Mod

Paul Forte - Jacksonville, FL - '69 Camaro

TRUE STREET RESULTS

WINNER: Jason Rollins - '71 Nova - 10.182 avg

RUNNER-UP: Kevin Smith - '95 Firebird - 11.647 avg

12-SECOND WINNER: Bud Ehrmann - '69 Camaro - 12.05 avg

13-SECOND WINNER: Larry Mengelkoch - '72 Truck - 13.08 avg

CHECK OUT PAGE TWO FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THE 2008 SUPER CHEVY SHOW IN GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA

MORE PHOTOS

VIEW FULL GALLERY

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Super Chevy Show Gainesville (Web Exclusive)

No rental car for me this trip! I got to drive our Senior VP Doug Evans''57 Hardtop to the show. While slightly nerve-wracking in the fact thatif something happened to the car I'd be deader than road kill, drivingthe '57 from our Tampa office to Gainesville was spectacularly awesome!I even blew past a new C6 Corvette. Not sure what surprised people more,the sight of the car, or the fact it was passing them.

I remember when you couldn't touch one of these in ratty condition forless than $500. Two complete TPI intakes for $150 a piece says a lotabout the aftermarket when it comes to fuel-injection for Chevys. Itused to be a TPI conversion was the only economical way to get FI on aclassic bowtie. The swap meet at the SC Show in Gainesville was loadedwith cool and useful parts just like this.

Gary & Debi Deason - Crawfordville, FL - '55 210 Gasser

Jim Hopkins - Beverly Hills, FL - '71 Nova

Michael Lloyd - Callahan, FL - '68 Camaro

Tom Messer - Gainesville, FL - '67 Camaro

Buddy Burfind - Englewood, FL - '64 Nova

Ralph Hendricks - Jacksonville, FL - '67 Camaro

George Emanuel - High Springs, FL - '55 Bel Air 2-door Sedan

Larry Flynn - Lutz, FL - '57 Be lAir Hardtop

Bob Wold - Oxford, FL - '55 210 2-door Sedan

Scott Helms - Crystal Springs, FL - '66 Impala SS

Kevin Cradduck - Murfreesboro, TN - '69 Camaro

Darren Stutts - Green Cove Springs, FL - '57 150 2-door Sedan

Jimmy Gugel - Ocala, FL - '70 Camaro

Ken & Faye Hamilton - Jacksonville, FL - Small-Block-Powered Dragster

Kelly Hicks - St. Augustine, FL - '02 Camaro Pro Mod

Paul Forte - Jacksonville, FL - '69 Camaro

The Southern Super Stock Association was out in force to spice up thedrag racing action at the show. Here Super Chevy Show icon Roger Gustingoes over some things with all the racers. The Southern crew brought outsome awesome wheelstanders to entertain the people at the show.

Speaking of wheelstands, here's Kevin Cradduck standing his '69 Camaroup and carrying the front wheels past the tree. This car is set up tomimic an L-72 equipped '69 Camaro according to NHRA rules, which usuallygo by a horsepower per pound weight ratio.

Gary and Debi Deason of Beverly Hills, Florida, brought out theirimmaculate '55 gasser for the show...

...This car has a ton of history,Gary's dad raced the car in the '60s as "Lawman" because he was a policeofficer and his badge number was/is on the car...

...Gary even has a pictureof the car from back in its track days. With all the "new" gasser-styleTri-Fives out there today, it's always nice to come across a veteran ofthe straight axle wars...

Back in the swap meet, we came across this factory Chevy 2x4 manifold.With retro being the craze, if you're building a nostalgia Chevy thismanifold would be a trick piece to have.

This group of young Bow Tie enthusiasts were having fun at the show.After a brief rain shower, Katelyn, Sheridon, Darby, and Amelia werehelping their parents dry off their sweet '68 Camaro.

This really nice, slammed to the ground '57 Sedan Delivery was a realattention getter. Hiding between the fenders was a well-polishedbig-block, and on the inside was a restomod interior. Watch for more onthis car in the future.

Need some power for your '57? This original 283 small-balancer mill wasnestled in-between a big block and four-bolt main small-block. While notboasting a ton of cubes, the 283 has always been a high winder, and cangive any car some high revving pep. With a forged steel crank (all 283ahad forged cranks, ALL OF THEM!), they could spin well.

It's tough not to turn your head when a big Impala like this goescruising by. Rick Selig drove to the show from Ponce Inlet in hisgorgeous 348-equipped '60 Impala.

The centerpiece in this photo is probably the best designed steeringwheel Chevrolet and GM ever produced. This design first appeared in the'58 Impala, and continued through the '60 Impalas (the '58 had a fullhorn ring, '59-60 had a half horn ring). The massive gauge cluster kepta driver well informed on how his car was running, from the ubiquitous235 I-6 all the way up to a 348 tri-power.

We won't drag out the old "look how many bodies you could fit in there"joke, but looking at the cavernous space of the '60 Impala's trunk, youcan see how easy it was for a family to take a vacation in one of thesecar.

Over at the drag strip, there was plenty of tire-burning action. Despitethe brief rain shower on Saturday, racing continued the rest of theafternoon and into Sunday (but with all racers being limited to eighth-milepasses because the long end of the track couldn't be dried fast enough).

Zachary Braswell of Chiefland, Florida, came out for the Sunday KidsProgram, and couldn't wait to start exploring the car show field lookingat everything.

Here's a good one for you. In the '50s in Puerto Rico, you didn't have adriver's license card, but a pin you attached to your belt. This '53Chevy is a 71,000 mile car still with the original spare tire, stillliving with the same family today. Jose Vega takes care of the car,previously owned and driven by his father in Puerto Rico. That's thedriver's license pin in the foreground.

Need a wash? These lovely ladies were from Gator Gal Glimmer Wash. For asmall price, you can hire a group of beautiful University of Floridacoeds to come out and fully detail your ride. We checked out theirwebsite, www.gatorgalglimmerwash.com, and were suitably impressed.

One of the major events at the show was Roger Gustin, Super Chevy Showowner and manager, coming out of retirement for a pass down the dragstrip. Roger grabbed a helmet and took the '57 down the strip low elevensecond pass at 130 mph!

You don't see many of these today that haven't had a V-8 conversion.This Vega was bone stock, and still sported its original four cylinder.

When the Vega first came out, its four cylinder was an all aluminumdesign with no iron liners. While revolutionary, the special coatingused to protect the cylinder walls from scuffing by the rings didn'twork, and these engines suffered from horrible cylinder sealing. Thesolution was a factory recall where the blocks were bored out so ironcylinder liners could be installed. With iron liners, the cylindersstayed sealed, and the engines ran pretty good. These engines also hadan odd valve cover design because of the placement of the valves and camfollowers.

Even the interior on this Vega looked almost new!

What's a Super Chevy show without a barbeque? While his friends wereglued to the TV watching the Florida vs. Tennessee game, this guy wasgrilling up some chicken to go with, some, uh "adult beverages" thateveryone was enjoying. While the chicken smelled good, we spied someonecooking ribs in another pit!

Rodger Ashworth brought out his work-in-progress '57 hardtop out to theshow. It's a long-haul veteran of the 2008 Power Tour hosted by sistermagazine Hot Rod.

Rodger's '57 is motivated by a fuel injected late model small-block.It's got modern A/C for comfortable cruising, and we were impressed byRodger's creative mounting of the air filter through the radiator coresupport.

At the strip, this C1 was laying down some wicked numbers, butunfortunately they were a little too wicked. After running a low11-second pass with no roll bar, the track officials black flagged theVette for safety reasons.

If you recognize this engine/trans combo, then you're really a hard corecar guy. For $200 you could have yourself a Morris Minor engine andtrans to put in...well, we're not sure what you'd put it in, but it'sstill interesting.

In the car corral, this really nice Chevelle 4-door was up for grabs.While only sporting a 283 and Powerglide, its almost total lack of rust and arrow straight panels make it a prime starting point for a project.

This veteran '55 has seen drag strip duty for the last 25-plus years.Owned by Bob Wold of Oxford, Florida, it was his first car and sawplenty of street duty in the Miami area, along with strip action atMiami-Hollywood Dragway until sometime after 1981, when the car became adedicated dragster. Bob raced the car at the last event atMiami-Hollywood before the track shut down due to encroachingsubdivisions and development.

Now here's a car that is screaming with potential. This '64 Chevelle 300spent most of its life in Oklahoma, and had only a little surface rustand fairly straight body to match. Powered by a well running 250inline-six with a Powerglide, for $8500 this car could be the beginningof a great build. Even though some of the trim was removed, it was stillwith the car along with some other odds and ends.

The interior of the Chevelle was in great shape. A little Por-15 on thefloor panels to neutralize the surface rust, and you could installcarpets in a weekend. Both seats were in great shape and just neededrecovering. Notice the radio delete panel?

From the back side you can see how great a shape this car was in. Wewere racking our brains trying to come up with some crazy way to getmoney to buy this car, but the penalty for armed robbery's a littlestiff in Florida, and we couldn't come up with enough pints of bloodbetween us to even buy a piece of trim off the car.

These things are always neat. Sunday a guy showed up demonstrating oneof those miracle oil additives that'll keep your motor from seizing ifyou run out of oil. His test subject was an old 235 inline-six (235'shad shaft mount rockers, 250-292 family inline sixes used stuff mountrockers like the V-8s). It's cool to get a chance to see the internalparts of an engine working, and can help give a better understanding ofeverything they do.

Here's another great wheelstand for you! Randy Harrison had his third-gen Camaro up on its rear wowing the crowd with a great pass down thedrag strip. Third Gen Camaros are so cheap and plentiful, and they makegreat project cars because of the aftermarket parts available you canmake them do almost anything.

After the radical styling change Chevrolet implemented for 1958, Chevydesigners went back to the drawing board in a big way for '59. The new'59 Chevy featured a totally different front and rear end. The firstyear for the famous massive batwing fins, the '59s had the "cat's eyes"taillight design.

Up front, the '59 Impala/BelAir/Biscayne had an all new look that pulledheavily form the '50s "jet fighter" styling all the automakers wereusing. Chevy continued using the quad-headlight design that firstappeared in '58 on everything, including the Corvette, but in a lowermounting position than '58.

Looking much like the deck of an aircraft carrier, the deck lid of the'59 belied its massive amount of trunk space. In '59, besides the 348tri-power engine, you could still get a fuel-injected 283 for power, thelast year the FI engine would be an option in the full size line.

Thank God for wheelie bars! After noticing how high the bars were set onthis '69 Camaro, we knew there'd be some good action when the car leftthe starting line. We weren't disappointed.

This is what we like to see, hardcore evidence of someone really drivingtheir classic Chevy. By the amount of splatter on the front of this'57's hood, it came from a pretty good distance to attend the show.

The 2005 Super Chevy Show at Gainesville Raceway in Florida featured classic and custom Chevrolet cars and trucks in a car show and drag racing and included Camaros, Corvettes, Novas, Chevelles, Tri-Fives, dragsters, and street rods - Super Chevy Magazine » Read More